Organizers Of The Ultra Music Festival In Florida Are Apologizing After A Chaotic First Night
Thousands of excited people flocked to Virginia Key, Florida, on Friday night for the first night of the Ultra Music Festival. This much-anticipated festival is planned to last for three days and will include performances from a variety of big name musical artists. David Guetta, Adam Beyer, The Chainsmokers, and Zedd are just a few of those scheduled to be in attendance. On night one, the festival wasn’t exactly as smooth rolling as concert organizers had hoped, and they are now issuing a public apology, as well as a promise for a better second night on Saturday, according to Complex.
Issues began to arise around 2 a.m. when the final show of the night ended and 50,000 concertgoers tried to find their way off of the island of Virginia Key and back Miami. There simply wasn’t enough transportation for the hordes of people. While Ultra had 200 shuttle buses ready and waiting to begin taking the crowds back to Miami, it’s safe to say they underestimated just how many people would require rides. Those unable to get seats on the shuttle buses had no choice but to walk nearly three miles back to the mainland in order to find other methods of transportation.
Ultra Music Festival's first day was bad enough to be called "Fyre Festival 2." https://t.co/9DlaJ1eii0 pic.twitter.com/HKrwmZsMz2
— Complex (@Complex) March 30, 2019
Uber or Lyft weren’t even available options since both were unable to get onto the island to pick up riders. As a result, those unable or unwilling to walk miles back to the mainland had no choice but to wait in long lines to catch a shuttle bus. The madness and disorganization made it difficult for the festival staff to direct people off the island.
Ray Martinez, Ultra’s security director, explained that the main issue was that many festival goers opted to leave the concert grounds earlier than organizers had expected, according to the Miami Herald.
“On the transportation part, obviously we knew that was going to be our challenge. We had over 200 buses on site. The issue is crowds started leaving a little earlier than we anticipated.”
Concert organizers issued an apology on the Ultra Music Festival Twitter page.
“We look forward to offering you a significantly improved transportation experience today and throughout the weekend, and we appreciate the opportunity to earn back your confidence and trust.”
However, for some, the apology is too little and too late. Today, many festival goers are complaining and some are even calling the incident the second Fyre Festival. The Fyre Festival was an epic concert disaster that occurred in 2017. The poor planning involved in the incident gained attention worldwide and was later depicted in two documentaries.
